Project Mahabharata

I am planning to read the Mahabharat. All of it. You can, too. A complete and unabridged translation of the Sanskrit original is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm

In addition, I have a copy of Kaliprasanna Singha’s translation in Bengali. I remember seeing it first in my grandfather’s house when I was about 9. It seemed inconceivable that anybody could finish reading even a chapter of that humongous tome, let alone the entirety. My grandfather, it seemed, had done this, proving once again that he was the smartest man in the world, ever.

Now, over two decades later I have a copy of my own. I estimate that if it was written out in the same style as, say, the US hardbound edition of the Harry Potter series, it would be about 5000 pages. Now that’s big, but nowhere near infinite. The HP series itself is a total of about 2500 pages, and children routinely read it all. So, it’s eminently possible to read the entire Mahabharat from start to finish! How cool is that?

So, I’m reading the Mahabharat and I must admit it’s a lot tougher going than Rowling’s work or Tolkien’s, because, boy, this book needed an editor!!!

To begin with there’s an incredible amount of fluff, and descriptions tend to be overly detailed and highly formulaic. If I have to read yet another description of warriors fighting ‘like passionate bull elephants during mating season’, I swear I’m going to throw the book at somebody’s head (and severely sprain a muscle in the process). Every time a deity or rishi or even a minor dignitary enters the scene, be prepared for a mile-long stava (‘oratory of praise’) elevating him all the way to Param-Brahma. And if anybody starts lamenting, especially Draupadi, you might as well head for the hills, or at least skip the next several pages.

Secondly, the narrative is highly nonlinear. There’s no “Once upon a time there were five brothers.....”. The Mahabharata is more like the Arabian nights. People start telling a story, and the characters in the story start telling each other another story, and on it goes. Then, all of a sudden, somebody gets beheaded or something and you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, what?? Which level of the loop was I on???"

Then there’s the whole blasted habit of giving away the ending. Happens all the time in the war chapters. For example, right at the outset of Karnaparva, Sanjay goes, "And so after two days of valiant fighting, the mighty Karna was slain by Arjuna..." . Dhritarashtra promptly faints away in shock, and I'm going, "Damn you, that was supposed to come at the END." Then they revive the old King, and Sanjay goes, "So, as I was saying, after Drona died, Duryodhana made Karna the new senapati...." and so on.
Honestly, those ancients had NO concept of slowly building up the tension to a big climax!!

It makes more sense if you remember that the epic was designed for listening in real time. So, during an endless stava or lamentation sequence, you could let your mind wander or run a small errand. Whereas maybe an ending-giveaway was a way of saying, “Hey, don’t go to the bathroom now. Big action scene coming up!” But for a modern reader, it can be rather frustrating.

So, then why bother, you may ask? Why not just read one of the dozens of abridged versions available in the market?

Well, I already have. In fact, if you can read Bengali, I will highly, highly recommend Upendrakishore Raychaudhuri’s (he was Satyajit Ray’s grandfather) version for children. I knew it as ‘CCheleder Mahabharat’ (Mahabharat for Boys), but apparently its been PC-ly renamed ‘CChotoder Mahabharat” (Mahabharat for Youngsters). The book is a gem – very entertainingly written and very faithful to the original as I am finding.

Part of my motivation is a reality check – one constantly hears that something or the other is ‘written in the Mahabharat’, I want to see if that’s really so.

But what really drives me is the sheer feel of reading the massive old epic. It’s not like reading a novel at all. Apart from the main plotline, the Mahabharat contains tons of other stories. Virtually every ancient Indian story you’ve heard of is present somewhere or the other – ‘Shakuntala-Dushyanta’, ‘Nala-Damayanti’, ‘Kacha-Devayani’, a condensed version of the Ramayan and much, much more. And often in the most unexpected of places – for example, the story of Shiva, Parvati and the birth of Kartika suddenly shows up before the final battle between Bhima and Duryodhana. Add to all this a huge dollop of philosophical discourse, political advice, social directives and whimsical folk tales thrown in almost at random and you have the big, bewildering mishmash that is the Mahabharat. Reading the great epic is a lot like walking the ways of an ancient city – you wander around pondering the well-known sights, and all of a sudden you are in a dingy little alleyway which leads to an exquisite garden, tucked away where you least expect it. It’s an experience you shouldn’t miss.

P.S: If you want to try the Mahabharat project yourself and want some company, some of us have set up a discussion blog at http://groups.google.com/group/mahabharata-discussion
All are welcome.